Sunrise

Sunrise
Sunrise on Sunset Beach

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Heron in the Wood

Athens, Georgia
February 14, 2011; revised
See also Heron World.

We loved that bird – how once 

he’d launch his four-foot frame 

to glide above the mud and pools, 


weathered rocks and rotting logs.

How once he’d stand amid the muck 

plucking silver shards of life.


So what compelled his final flight 

from river banks that gave him life 

to the hush of lowland woods?


Some will claim birds have no soul 

(some say the same of you and me), 

but say not knowing one bird well. 


Do you not sense a presence 

more than hollow bones 

and handsome feathers? 


Can you see through dimming eyes 

of a wild bird waiting in the woods 

for what must come in morning 


shadows where love and resignation 

forge bonds beyond kind? 

Silver feathers grace the ground 


that launched his soul to final flight

to soar above what lies behind 

on woodland floor and in my mind.


Wednesday, March 9, 2011

The Reality of Sunsets

Athens, Georgia
March 7, 2011

Scientifically speaking, sunsets
are unreal, nothing but
electromagnetic oscillation
diffracted by dust
detected by cones
delivered by neurons
       upside down
reorganized just so
you can pull your beach chair
next to mine and watch the sun
cross an imaginary line
and together we can reconstruct
what never was, yet
brings forth tears. Shall we
say a word or just enjoy?
You can call this what you will
but I would say it’s love.

Scientifically speaking, God
is unreal, nothing but
historical construction
discerned in dreams
dissected by logic
deposed by knowledge
       bottom up
as we reconstruct 
from foundations of facts
new towers to heaven
while ignoring again what
philosophers have found,
that no proof can forever
bind firm temples of truth
to ever quaking ground.
Cerebral God of new tribes
of the civilized savants
who slash the soul with
unassailable argument –   
that God has died, so long
live what lies beyond,
what comforts tears and
calls forth song, what
sustains more kindness
when none is due, what
surprises your heart with
unearned joy. Shall we
say a word or just rejoice?
You can call this Adonai,
Al-lah’, or Father God. From
what I read and think and feel
I would say it’s Love.